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Self Study Report Prepared for the Council for Education in Public Health November 2015 Executive Summary Our mission as a leading public health school - ranked #14 in the nation by U.S. News and World Report’s list of Best Public Health Graduate schools – is to provide the best public health educational experience possible while incorporating our core values of scholarship and leadership, scientific rigor and policy analysis, and training to foster the next generation of public health leaders worldwide. Over the past seven years we have made tremendous progress by restructuring our MPH and BS programs and curriculum, launching new degrees, hiring new faculty and staff, and offering scholarships to attract top students. In AY2010 we became financially and academically independent from the former Medical Center at GW and now directly report to the GW Provost. In AY2014 we secured the largest gift in George Washington University history, $80 million dollars from the Milken Institute, the Sumner M. Redstone Charitable Foundation, and the Milken Family Foundation. This gift is helping expand our research, support new faculty initiatives, and sustain important scholarship programs. We have been busy establishing research centers, awarding scholarships, and convening global leaders, scientists, and policy experts to discuss critical public health issues of the day. We have held symposiums on the Ebola virus, climate change, obesity and nutrition, and HIV/AIDS, to name a few. As the only public health school in the nation’s capital, we have the unique ability to attract and bring together experts from academia, government, foundations, NGOs, and the private sector to put their minds to work on developing solutions that will make the lives of many, especially the world’s underserved populations, healthier and disease-free. Our building, which we moved into in 2014, has earned LEED Platinum status and is recognized by leading architecture organizations for its unique, sustainable design that demonstrates how an academic building can truly embody public health values. A central atrium staircase is immediately visible, encouraging walking instead of taking the elevator. All offices have standing desks, and our vending machines feature healthy snacks instead of the usual soda and candy. During this next year we are building out a new Public Health Laboratory in GW’s Science and Engineering Hall building that opened in AY2015. This state-of-the-art laboratory will house existing wet lab research conducted by our researchers and enables us to expand those efforts. We have launched two online degree programs in the last four years, the MPH@GW and the MHA@GW, and are preparing to launch another, HealthInformatics@GW. Our online programs are leading the way, revolutionizing the world of online education and we will continue to position the school for further achievement. Our school continues to adjust to the demands of today’s professional students. Over the last year, we achieved our goal of creating one-year MPH tracks to meet the changing needs of our students and current public health challenges. Additionally, we created a new MPH track in public health nutrition to educate students who want to prevent chronic diseases and premature deaths through the reduction of the twin threats of over- and under-nutrition. Since our last review we have expanded our doctoral education programs to include a PhD in epidemiology and a new PhD in social and behavioral sciences in public health, in addition to our DrPH offerings. In some respects, the numbers speak for themselves. In AY2007 we had a total of $17 million in research expenditures, in addition to the research that was underway in our Biostatistics Center. In AY2015 this was $43 million. Likewise in AY2007 we had a total of 1,040 students, compared to 1,783 today. Despite all of our successes and achievements since our last review, we still have a long way to go. We will soon engage in a new strategic planning process to not only build on our achievements but to create new goals and objectives. The dramatic metamorphosis of our school demands that we reevaluate, recreate, and further drive our ability to deliver the best public health education to the most students possible in today’s ever changing academic landscape. Table of Contents GLOSSARY…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………i CRITERIA 1: THE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH .............................................................................................. 1 1.1 MISSION ........................................................................................................................................ 1 1.1.a. School mission statement ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1.b. School values. .......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1.c. Goal statements. ...................................................................................................................... 2 1.1.e. Description of development of mission, vision, values, goals. ................................................ 3 1.1.f. How school makes M,V,V,G available to constituents. ......................................................... 11 1.1.g. Assessment of criterion. ........................................................................................................ 11 1.2. EVALUATION. .............................................................................................................................. 12 1.2.a. Description of the evaluation processes ............................................................................... 12 1.2.b. Description of how the results of the evaluation processes are used .................................. 13 1.2.c. Data regarding measurable objectives. ................................................................................. 17 1.2.d. Description of how the self-study document was developed ............................................... 40 1.2.e. Assessment of criterion ......................................................................................................... 41 1.3. INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT.................................................................................................. 41 1.3.a. Description of the institution ................................................................................................. 42 1.3.b. University organizational charts. ........................................................................................... 43 1.3.c. Description of the school’s level of autonomy and authority. .............................................. 46 1.3.d. How SPH differs from other university schools. .................................................................... 47 1.3.e. Collaborative schools ............................................................................................................. 48 1.3.f. Collaborative school agreement ............................................................................................ 48 1.3.g. Assessment of criterion. ........................................................................................................ 48 1.4 ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION. .................................................................................... 49 1.4.a. Organizational chart of the school ........................................................................................ 49 1.4.b. Description of the roles and responsibilities of major units in school. ................................. 51 1.4.c. Description of interdisciplinary coordination, cooperation, and collaboration. ................... 54 1.4.d Assessment of criterion. ........................................................................................................ 55 1.5 GOVERNANCE. ............................................................................................................................ 56 Milken Institute SPH, Self-Study, 2015 1.5.a. Standing and ad hoc committeesof the school ..................................................................... 56 1.5.b. Description of the school’s governance and committee structures...................................... 62 1.5.c. School bylaws and other policy documents .......................................................................... 65 1.5.d. School faculty on university committees. .............................................................................. 65 1.5.e. Description of student roles in governance, student organizations. .................................... 67 1.5.f. Assessment of criterion. ........................................................................................................ 68 1.6 FISCAL RESOURCES ...................................................................................................................... 68 1.6.a. Description of the budgetary and allocation processes ........................................................ 69 1.6.b. School budget statement ...................................................................................................... 73 1.6.c. Budget for collaborative schools ........................................................................................... 76 1.6.d. Measurable objectives for fiscal resources ........................................................................... 76 1.6.e. Assessment of criterion.